Post Fan Art Competition – Popular Character? Oh Yeah!
This is a popularity indicator generated based on results from our contest’s Judges. The lovely character Kumo, appears to be an extremely popular character being featured in 23/70 entries. What this tells us is that, regarding the pacing of the game and how long we spend time with each character, Kumo’s arc should be lengthened to satisfy the demand for this character. (But not too long, part of this character’s appeal is her mysterious aura and backstory.)
Artists from top, left to right: SoloEsper01, Janthida, Hyperion-Yamazaki, MiahWolf, emiyana, iorisu
What does this mean for the rest of the cast?
Contest Entry by DrawXAngel
The rest of the cast won’t be changed or redesigned. Their designs are solid and each of them have their own unique story! There is currently no game content of TinyWars or even any story really released yet, so I do not have any concern about Kumo’s popularity over the rest of the girls. Kumo was specifically designed to look “mysterious” and “intriguing.”
Entry by VKingStudio
Progress Update For Gameplay Prototype
As scheduled, the gameplay prototype should be ready for play testing this month! We have currently finished implementing the final wave to this prototype level. As far as the game’s content goes, it is complete! However there are a few more technical features that need to be completed before the prototype is ready for testing, these include:
TO DO LIST
- Implement a “Level Complete” screen at the end of the level
- Implement a basic menu system (Provide developer info, build info, and basic menu options)
- Disable the incredibly buggy “fast forward” feature (It’s not going to work for this build!)
- Actually do a play through and make sure it is POSSIBLE to beat the demo with perfect health!
- Might leave the test controls enabled so people can have fun experimenting with the game. (Spawns enemies, adds money, etc.)
Remember this little test creature that looks like it was drawn in MS Paint? We’ve grown quite fond of it.
His sprite has been enhanced by our lovely artist, LaDollBlanche.
Things to Consider
Many features of this gameplay prototype will be changed in future builds and demos. Particularly the menu system and general theme of the GUI will be revised to fall more in line with the “tiny” theme. Certain enemy sprites and enemies themselves might be changed.
The prototype is one single sandbox level. It was designed simply so we could develop all the features that the TinyWars game would run on. There are some specific advanced features that have not been implemented, but we have implemented the core features that most of the levels will run on! (We have a few special levels planned)
Because this prototype is designed for testing, there are a variety of enemies that spawn in each wave. In a normal level we would not have this much variety of enemies. Ideally, we would want to build it up, or keep all the enemies within a specific theme. In this prototype you will encounter a bunch of different enemies that look like they came from all sorts of different places. It looks like a mess on screen and doesn’t have any predictability to it.
Why Tower Defense?
The purpose of this gameplay prototype is to show off some unique features of TinyWars and show that this is NOT your ordinary tower defense game. Someone had suggested to me that we call this a “Siege Game” because “Tower Defense” has such negative associations with it. Specifically tower defense is seen as an old, “dead” and over done genre of video games that is usually associated with people’s first games.
I have a feeling that tower defense, especially for mobile is still a pretty strong genre. Games like Radiant Defense which had been on the app store’s top list several times and other great TD games are all inspirations for TinyWars. However, I will say that I am generally disappointed with most tower defense games that are anime themed. Why do I want to play anime themed games? Is it to see overly sexualized witches with subpar gameplay? No of course not… (I mean I guess some people wouldn’t have a problem with that!)
Why anime theme in general?
Because we have a compelling story to tell. The anime artwork and design is an art style we choose to go with because we have a particularly interesting and engaging story to tell. I know other “anime” games use the anime theme for the sake of being anime, but we have our motivations and I hope that our hard work, whether in writing or in the gameplay, will not go unnoticed!
Interested in Beta Testing?
If you are interested in becoming a beta tester for the prototype, the easiest way to get in touch with us is through our facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/TinyWarsGame/
Feel free to send us a message and tell us that you’re interested in becoming a beta tester. It’s going to be pretty easy, nothing much you have to do besides play the game and if possible, do a screen recording of the gameplay! Simple right? 🙂